


The Coldness of Siberian Nights

by LynnDenbaum



Series: Spirit!AU [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Discrimination, Gets a little bloody, Happy Ending, M/M, Swearing, Violence, Weapons, because I am not good with tags, firearms, spirit!au, werewolves? well yes but actually no, will probably add tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-06-28 06:36:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19806739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LynnDenbaum/pseuds/LynnDenbaum
Summary: When Dr. Logan Berrie got sent to Siberia in order to research the flora and fauna of the harsh Russian Taiga, he did not expect his whole world to change.Seems like all his knowledge did not prepare him for what he would discover.





	1. Not a good day to die

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there guys!  
> When a story comes up in my mind, I have no other choice than to write it, so here is the spirit!au that absolutely no one asked for.
> 
> I am not a native english speaker, so I apologize in advance for every grammar and/or vocab mistake, that I may have made.
> 
> Have fun!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some gore, some violence (not much though) and a confused scientist.

  
  
Dr. Logan Berrie, best in his field of expertise at the Exeter University, did not believe in monsters, ghosts and frights of the night. Neither did he think that all those legends or myths that people told each other were at all true.  
Sure most of the old tales had some kind of moral core or deeper meaning to them that justified the pure abstrusity of their content, but his entire life he had been fairly certain, that there was no way creatures like ghouls, vampires or werewolves could actually exist.

Talking animals, flying carpets or brooms, magic and fairies. None of these things were something he would concern himself with, for as a scientist he only believed in, or rather trusted two things: the scientific evidence on his desk or in his labor and himself.  
  
But somehow he had just started to question the latter. 

Because, if there was no way that those creatures existed, why did he find himself sitting in the snow of the harsh siberian forest, rescued from a glibbery creature, which he couldn't quite get a grasp on, by a giant black wolf, that certainly exceeded the heights and strength and intelligence of any normal siberian wolf?  
In fact, the animal held the size of a bear, but it's facial features and anatomy clearly pointed it out to be a wolf. A male siberian wolf.

And just now it stood on top of whatever was left of the unknown creature, that had attacked the scientist earlier, blood and gore smeared into its fur and entrails scattered beneath it's giant paws, staring at Logan with soft curiosity in it's... His glistening lilac eyes.

Logan felt his breath falter and his heart rate jumped to unhealthy heights, when the wolf slowly started to approach him.  
In a panicked frenzy he tried crawling backwards, out of the reach of the animals giant fangs, while he desperately looked for his bear rifle.  
God he was too young to die. He still had to finish so much research! Write some scientific papers! 

_Nonononono!_

He just finished his dissertation, got the doctors degree. He was not finished with this world yet!  
The wolf didn't stop. He slowly took one step after the other to bridge the distance between themselves and the panicking scientist.

Logan's clumsy, numb fingers brushed through ice cold snow, branches and half rotten leaves, But the early taigan nightfall had already covered the land with its shady blanket and the condensed water on Logans glasses, that had slowly rearranged its molecules to form ice crystals, worsened his sight even more.  
Where was his rifle?  
He must have dropped it somewhere around here. It _had_ to be here!

The air that escaped his lips turned to thick clouds of vapor in front of his face and even glittered softly in the moonlight, as if it turned to ice as soon as it left the warmth of the doctors body.  
The temperature had dropped drastically with the disappearance of the sun. But Logan didn't even notice.  
Those lilac eyes that were directed at him sent an awkward feeling through his body. It was a mixture of pure fear and a weird calmness that took hold of his limbs.  
He suddenly felt the need to sit still and just wait for the beast to reach him, because it would be okay.

Except clearly it wouldn't.

He would be eaten alive, ripped to shreds like that thing earlier. (He could still hear the creatures screeching echoing between the cedar trees) and he fought with all his minds strength against this numbness in his body that took over his mind.  
Again Logan looked around for anything that could help him (at this point he didn't even care what it was as long as it was pointy and/or deadly in any other way), when his eyes suddenly got caught by the reflection of the moon on the barrel of his rifle only a few feet away and he pushed himself up in one desperately fluid motion, jumped over to the weapon, grabbed it and swirled around to point it at…. Nothing.

The wolf was gone. 

Vanished without a trace, safe his paw prints in the snow.

The cold and the stress had exhausted him and the walk back to the relative safety of his Jeep had felt like a marathon run.  
Now, back in the warmth of the log cabin that his university had rented for him in the outskirts of a small russian town, he didn't have the strength to think over today's events, he couldn't even read a book.  
After he forced down a hot cup of tea and some slices of the hard, dark russian bread, he went straight to bed.

Maybe it was just a dream. Maybe it all had been just a dream.

But of course it wasn't.

When Logan woke up the next day his body hurt in places, he didn't even know existed.  
His fingers felt as if they had been under high pressure. A side effect of a near frostbite, he was sure. And he had various scratches and smaller wounds on his limbs that needed treatment.  
A look in the mirror showed several more bruises and some cuts from when the slimy monster… no not monster.  
There was no such thing as a monster… the creature … had initially attacked, before the wolf had shown up.

His hair was a mess and dirt and parts of leaves and branches sticked out of it but nothing a shower couldn't mend.  
He took his normal clothes, in which he had slept in, off and threw them into the litter, without giving them a second glance. They were shredded and bloodstained and beyond repair.  
His thermoisolating coat and trousers were damaged as well.  
Maybe he could repair them, but he would probably just have to buy new clothes. 

The fabric couldn't guarantee a sufficient thermal isolation with all these holes in it and here in this unforgiving part of the world, a good isolation could decide on life or death.

After his shower and a forced down breakfast of one slice of bread with some cheese, he decided to make good use of the limited daylight here in the northern hemisphere and go shopping for new clothes first, before deciding or thinking about anything else.  
Especially about yesterday evening.

First things first, second things second, right?

Logan turned his Jeep into the parking lot of a small shop that sold outdoor clothing amongst other things and got out of the car with shaky knees.  
During the drive here the dark trees in the distance and the reflection of sun rays on the snow had reminded him of the terror that he had felt the night before.  
But to his own surprise, the fearful thoughts weren't directed at the giant, clearly not normal wolf, but at the other thing.

The thing that had more limbs than a normal mammal should have, with slimy skin that seemed clearly impractical for living in the harsh russian taiga, due to the fact that it should _freeze_. That thing that didn't even care about any of these points and still had wandered around the forest attacking people.

_What the hell was that thing?!_

The doorbell chimed a little too joyously, when he entered the store and he was immediately greeted by a very happy man in light blue, that distracted him from his thoughts about whether or not he should go back to examine the remains of the body.

"Hi! Hello there! Welcome to Patton's practical store! If you need something, just let me know and I'll be all there for you!"

The cheery guy beamed at Logan before his smile slightly faltered, when he sighted the scratches all over the scientists face.

"Oh my, what happened to you?!"

Before Logan could even think about answering that question, the man, probably Patton, had taken his hand and towed him into a small room in the back of the store, where he placed him on a soft light brown couch with way too many pillows and put a cup of hot green tea on the coffee table in front of the scientist.

"Thank you, but that was really not necessary", 

Logan weakly announced, when the man put a bowl full of at least 7 different sorts of cookies next to his cup.

"You poor thing got all bruised up! Did you have an accident? Do you need a doctor? I have never seen you here before. Are you on vacation?"

"N...no! No I'm fine. Thank you.. erm..?"

"Patton! I'm Patton! You can call me Pat!"

"Well thank you, Patton, but I am fine. Really. I just need some… clothing. Isolation clothes against the cold. For an excursion. You see I'm a biochemist. I explore the flora and fauna of the area."

Patton's expression changed.  
Just very slightly, very subtly, but it did.   
A hint of caution and concern now accompanied the suddenly shallow joy in his light blue eyes.

"So you have been to the forest lately, then?"

He asked, still smiling, while taking a cookie himself, trying to look nonchalant, but in Logan's opinion clearly failing.  
The scientist furrowed his brows.  
Something about the store owners reaction seemed off.  
What was going on here?

  



	2. A good day to meet new people

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically: Patton has something to hide and Logans log house is creepy.

Patton had proven himself very helpful by figuring out Logan's Size and form perfectly, so in no time the scientist had new clothes to wear in the forest.   
But the odd feeling, that the happy man was hiding something just wouldn't leave him alone.  
Maybe he was just paranoid after yesterday's near death experience, but somehow he doubted it.

In fact Logan didn't even feel like he was under the effects of shock anymore.   
The researcher inside him had taken control over his thoughts and now he was focused on being prepared for his next encounter with wolf and/or slimy creature.   
Because he would definitely go out there again and find out what this thing was.  
But first he would have to get back home, which was proving itself to be more difficult than one would think.

Patton had decided that Logan would stay for lunch/brunch/late second breakfast and apparently there was no possibility to change his mind and get out of this.  
So now Logan was sitting at the kitchen table in the apartment right above the store and stared in a mixture of awkwardness and silent awe at the huge mountain of spaghetti on his plate.

Apparently Patton was an excellent cook. But he also was a very chattery person and wouldn't stop talking for the love of it, or asking questions about Logan's life and work.

"You are american then? That's so cool! Me too! I mean what are the odds?"

Logan just smiled at that and slightly nodded. He had already figured out, that Patton had to be from the states. His heavy accent highly indicated so and on the ledge of the fireplace stood various framed fotos, some of which showed a younger Patton with three other men in front of different well known american landmarks.

"But… you're working at the university then? In England?"

"Yes, that is correct. I am currently employed at the University of Exeter."

"Watcha doing all the way up in Russia then?"

The man was constantly grinning, his dark blond curls falling into his light blue eyes, somehow highlighting the freckles on his cheeks.

Logan sighed softly.  
He really wanted to go home to prepare himself for a field trip into the forest,   
but he knew that the social thing to do, as well as the best thing for him right now, was to stay and to answer the questions. 

Especially when the guy had cooked lunch for him.

"My research is…"   
He tried hard to think of a way to explain what he was doing, so Patton would be able to understand it and finally finished his sentence with: 

"Basically I am examining whether or not the pH value of the ground influences the occurrence of rare fauna."

Patton blinked at him with a confused expression.

"So you… do what exactly?"

Another soft sigh escaped the scientists lips.   
He really wanted to be elsewhere right now.  
In his lab for example.  
Or in the forest with his bear rifle, searching for that slimy _ thing. _

Logan slightly re-adjusted his glasses to collect himself, before answering.

"I collect samples of the ground, different plants and examine the animals in the area."

Again the expression in the store owners eyes seemed to falter a bit into suspiciousness,   
but before anyone could say anything else, the door opened and a man entered the room.

He was relatively short and seemed light weighted, but the well defined muscles of his arms were visible, even through the baggy fabric of his violet hoodie.

His hair was a chaotic brown and purple mess with bangs that fell deep into his eyes.   
He was wearing ripped dark jeans, slightly worn out converse sneakers in black to complete the angsty dark look and had his left hand shoved into the hoodies front pocket. His right hand lifted up to take of his headphones.

"Hey Pat, I'm ba-"

When the newcomers eyes fell on Logan, both of them froze in place.

Logan felt his heart shortly stop, just to beat even faster afterwards, as if it wanted to make up for the lost beat.

The man's eyes, that Logan hadn't been able to see before, because they were covered by hair, were framed with dark eyeshadow, that only enhanced the brightness of his glistening lilac irises.

Lilac irises, that the biochemist had seen before.

Was that even possible?   
What was going on here?  
How should he react?  
What was the _ logical  _ thing to do?  
Did logic even  _ matter _ anymore?  
__ I need answers!  
  
Logan opened his mouth to say something, but Patton reacted quicker.

"Ah you're home early! Dr. Berrie this is Virgil. Virgil, this is Dr. Logan Berrie. A … bio.. chemist? From Amerika!"

Logan nodded softly.

"Yes that is correct. However…"

"Ok cool. Nice to meet ya doc. I have work to do. Seeya."

And with that the dark man disappeared up a staircase into the attic.   
The door fell shut with a loud bang, leaving Logan and Patton in an awkward silence, before the latter quickly picked up the conversation with an apologetic grin.

"Ah I'm sorry. He's shy. He'll warm up…He's a bit frosty" 

The man grinned even brighter. 

"Get it? Warm up? Because we are in Siberia? And he's frosty? Because of the ice?"

The scientist could only blink at him in soft bewilderment.   
He was too startled to even respond.   
Pun were and always had been the lowest form of humour to him.   
And that one was particularly bad.

"Wasn't one of my best. I admit it. Buuuut no need to be so  _ cold  _ about it!"

"I think it is time for me to return to my research. I have taken advantage of your hospitality way too long already.   
Thank you for the meal, it was much appreciated."

With that Logan got up, took the bag with his new clothes and left.  
He had things to do.  
And issues to address.

And purple haired men to figure out.

  
  
  


_ "Why  _ was he  _ here _ ?!"

Virgil hissed in a mixture of panic and rage.  
"Pat you can't just invite everyone in! We are in a very sensible position right now! What if he were to capture you? He's a  _ scientist _ ! You cannot trust  _ scientists _ !"

"Whoa there! Someone's all  _ heated up _ ! I think you need to  _ cool down _ again, kiddo."

Patton grinned, completely ignoring the weight of the situation.

"This is not the time for temperature puns!! Seriously! What if he was one of  _ them _ ?!"

The man in light blue slightly frowned.

"He is not. He's a good man. And you said it yourself. He was completely shocked, when the ghoul attacked him. He didn't expect it. He didn't  _ know.  _ And he still doesn't."

Virgil calmed down a little, pinching the back of his nose with two fingers, trying to control his breathing.  
Finally he looked up again.

"Ok. So you invited him in to find out, what he knows? Not just because you love having people here?"

Patton grinned sheepishly and the darker man thought, that the truth probably lied somewhere in between those motives.  
His cousin/self proclaimed father did feel lonely quite easily and the doc was the perfect opportunity to chatter.  
No harm had come from it yet, but the rest was to be seen.

"You know Pat, that is why I said we should move back home to America. We are in dangerous territory here. Just let all of  _ this _ be Remy's problem. It's not our war."

But the other just shook his head.

"We are family, Virge. We don't leave people behind."

Virgil sighed. Deep down he agreed, but the animalistic instinct to just run was becoming overwhelming from time to time.

"Yeah. You're right. Sorry."

The log house Logan was currently residing in was rented to his university by the russian government itself. That was, because the property was a bit special.

The house was bigger than it looked from the outside. Apparently it had been a laboratory of the Akademgorodok University back in the 70ies and had been used to do secret experiments on animals back then. (Logan had read something about genetic manipulation on dogs to make them stronger and more durable, but he didn't know any more about it, than that the experiments had been stopped by the government. Since then this place had been abandoned.)

So the basement was basically a huge lab.

It was stretching further than the house itself and even had an escape tunnel in the furthest part, that led into the nearby forest.  
But for Logan's purpose, the front part of the lab was enough.   
He didn't need the dissection tables and the huge cages in the back.   
Or the electronic devices, that he couldn't even identify.

(The researchers seemed to have left the place rather quickly back then, only taking their notes and research papers, but leaving everything else behind.)

All he had needed was a place to chemically examine different components of soil and plants and sometimes small dead animals like lizards, or their excrements.  
He had set up his personal work space with his own chemicals, instruments and devices that he had brought with him and had just ignored, that there was more to this place.

But that was, when he just had to make smaller experiments to test samples for compounds.   
Now, that he had a whole new unknown slimy creature to investigate, maybe the dissection tables would be of use.  
They were the only logical place to put dead remains, after all.  
And after what the wolf had done to it, the thing was definitely dead. 

Even now he still heard it screeching…

With another low sigh Logan turned on the lights in the back room of the basement.  
The neon rays flickered to life to send their cold unfeeling light over metallic objects all over the place.  
The biochemist had been in here only once before, when he first moved here three weeks ago.  
And that only because he liked to make himself aware of his surroundings.   
He liked to know what he was sleeping on top of.

But now he actually stepped into the room and touched things.   
He emptied one of the tables of all the tools that laid scattered around and put them into one of the smaller metallic containers.

Maybe he could use some of them? The scalpels were probably dull by now, but most of the clamps and tongs seemed fine.  
Then he used some laboratory sanitizer and wiped the table clean.   
This would be his workspace in here.

In the end he needed the whole day to clean and reorganize the laboratory.  
All those cobwebs and all the dust that had gathered here for nearly 50 years were hard to get rid of, and then he still had to sort out the useless tools, replace them with his own and toss them into one of the bigger containers at the back wall of the room.

Surprisingly enough, the vents still worked and he had to replace only one light bulb in the dissection lamp.

The lab was in astonishingly good shape.   
But it still took a lot of time to set everything up.   
When Logan finally walked back into his living room, the fire that he had started this morning had gone out and the sun was gone. Darkness had laid itself over Siberia once again.   
(Not very surprising, considering, that Siberian winters consisted to 70% of night.)   
For a few seconds he seriously considered going out despite the darkness to get the corpse, but then he discarded this thought within the blink of an eye, when it occurred to him, that there could be more specimen than just the one that died.   
And maybe he wouldn’t have as much luck this time.   
He should at least wait for the sunrise.   
But then he would go to the core of all this.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dearest people,  
> If you want to visit me on tumblr (ladylynndenbaum) please feel free to do so!  
> Please leave some kind of feedback for me.  
> I really want to improve my writing, but I need you all to do so!
> 
> Cheers!


	3. What the actual f* are you doing back here?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan is a dumbass.  
> Thats all.

_Logan was walking through the darkening forest. He should have gone home an hour ago, but the samples he wanted to collect were nowhere to be found.  
_ _He could have sworn, that he had seen some specimen of the iris borealis, a very rare kind of lily, some days before when he first went through this part of the area._

_The sun sent her last rays stretching over the horizon in a desperate attempt to fight the dusk and suddenly the world became horribly cold._  
_Logan pulled his thermoisolating coat tighter around his shoulders and let out a shuddery breath._  
_Yes he should definitely go home.  
_ _He won't be able to find anything in this twilight anyways._

_Adjusting the strips of his bag he turned on his heels to walk back in the vague direction of his Jeep, when he suddenly heard a noise that had his heart freeze in terror.  
_ _It was a sound right out of a horror movie._  
A terrifying mixture of Godzilla's roar and the screeching of nails on a blackboard that twisted ones insides into a trembling knot of sliminess. 

_And it came from somewhere behind him._  
_The scientist turned again, more jumping than actually walking in shock.  
_ _The dark columns that where the trunks of borealian pine trees reverberated from the cry, distorting it, falsifying the direction, that it came from._

_Logan was a scientist. A biochemist and he was_ not _afraid of the dark, thank you very much!_

_But even he could not deny the feeling of unbelievable terror that grew inside his guts and told him to_ runrunrun!   
Run for your dear life!

_The cold made his limbs numb and his movements slow, as he tried to take his bear rifle from his back, while stumbling into the opposite direction that the sound came from.  
_ _He didn't even know if that was where his Jeep was, but he hoped it._

_The creature screamed again, this time clearly behind him and most definitely a lot nearer than before._

Shitshitshitshit  
 _Logan started running.  
He wasn't exactly made for physical activity, but he had been on a lot of excursions lately._

_Maybe, just maybe it would be enough to outrun it.  
_ _And if not, he still had the rifle, right?_

_He ran and ran, the weapon swinging against his chest with every contact of his feet with the snow layered floor, until he reached a clearing that looked slightly familiar.  
_ _Only then Logan slowed down, trying to get a hold of the right direction, trying to catch his breath._

_A fatal mistake._

_The only warning was the cracking of branches, before_ something _tackled him to the floor. The rifle was ripped from his hands and disappeared somewhere in the darkness to his left and the next thing Logan saw were wet fangs in a way to large mouth and wet, glibbery skin that should have froze the creature to death by now._

_The biochemist cursed lowly underneath his breath and tried not to get to close to the deadly daggers over his face.  
_ _The_ thing _was heavy._  
It's weight on Logan's chest made it difficult to breath and his speeding heart rate made his head dizzy.

_He wouldn't be able to hold it back much longer…  
_ _A single drop of goo fell onto his face and Logan winced and then.._

_Suddenly the weight disappeared._

_When the man sat up the black wolf stood on top of the ripped pieces of the_ thing.   
_It's lilac eyes softly glistening with concern.  
_ _It seemed to smile, the scenery seemed to change._

_Was this a dream?_

_Suddenly Logan sat in a wide meadow. Wild poppy and beautiful cornflowers put colourful touches into his view and the wolf… was now a man.  
_ _He kneeled in the middle of flowers and grass and smiled gently._

_The lilac eyes now underlined with dark eyeshadow and bangs that fell deep into his face._

_The terror, the fear was gone. Logan felt safe._

  
  
  
  


When the scientist woke up in his armchair in front of the cold fireplace, he was still smiling, even though the memory of the dream already faded.

He could only remember feeling deep fright that suddenly turned to warmth and calmness.

And somehow there had been those lilac eyes that haunted all his thoughts.  
The sun had just begun to stretch her rays over the trees of the distant forest, that he could see through the window next to the entrance door.   
He sighed softly. It was about 8am already.   
He overslept.  
  
Logan shook his head as if to clear it and stood up with wobbly knees to make his way into the kitchen for coffee.   
Good old dark and tart coffee, that kept his systems running and his mind sharp.   
  
While the machine started heating up water, he searched through the fridge in hope of finding something edible, and came up with some leftover bread (why had he put that into the fridge in the first place?!) and salted butter, even though he personally found the russian butter slightly lacking in comparison to the european one.   
With a hissing sound the steaming hot black liquid, that he was aching for so badly, dripped into his mug until it was half filled with it.   
  
Excellent.. Now he could _finally_ think straight again (Pun _not_ intended, thank you very much!)   
  
And come up with some plans for the day, that had just started.   
Readjusting his glasses with the index finger of his left hand, Logan tried to sort his thoughts.   
  
It had been 30h since he got attacked.   
Would the creature’s corpse even still be there? The probability, that it got eaten by bears, foxes or _wolves_ was rather high.   
Especially considering, that he had already confirmed the existence of the latter.   
  
Somehow he seriously doubted, that this particular wolf would eat a repugnant _thing_ like that, but he couldn't know for sure.   
But even if he didn’t.   
There were numerous predatory mammals out there, hungry for a meal.   
  
And he was quite certain, that many of them weren’t as picky as he assessed the _matchless_ black wolf as.   
The intelligence in his shining eyes…   
And the beautiful man, who shared those eyes. The one, he had met yesterday at Pattons’...   
  
_Focus, Logan. Focus. Better make a list. That’ll help._  
  
The doctor loved his lists.  
Grocery lists, to do lists, lab safety lists, all kind of them really.   
He felt safe, when having them to rely on. Not, that he didn’t trust his head, but sometimes it simply was better to have safety nets.   
  
So he did, what he did best, took out pen and paper and made a list.   


  * Put knives/rifle into backpack
  * Get additional ammo
  * Take camera
  * Additional battery
  * Additional memory card
  * Take GPS
  * Map your coordinates
  * Take sulfuric acid; gloves; tweezers; pipette; bags
  * Get food
  * Check car for enough gas
  * Optional: Stop by gas station
  * Be careful



  
Working through the points on his list, crossing of the ones he did with neat accurate lines, Logan readied himself for the excursion back into the forest to get answers.   
_And hopefully not being eating alive. Neither dead. Actually I think I would prefer not to be eaten in any condition._   
  
After a quick stop at the gas station and the local grocery store, the biochemist finally activated GPS and drove back to the place of his nightmares.   
  
Soon he had to leave the road and take a smaller way that was covered with snow, but still held the tracks his tires had left the last time he had come up here.   
There hadn’t been any fresh snowfall around here in the last two days and that was good.   
  
Because otherwise, he wouldn’t have found the location of the remains. It had been quite dark then after all.   
All in all the drive took about half an hour of his heart beating way too fast and illogical fears running through his head on loop, nearly making him turn back about a dozen times.   
Maybe he should just report this to someone?   
But who to? This forest didn’t even belong to anyone, nor had it rangers, as far as his reports told.  
  
No One would believe him anyways, until he brought proof.   
That was, after all, how science worked.  
You claim a thesis and then you back it up with evidence.  
If you skipped this second part, you would easily make a joke out of you and no one would ever take you seriously ever again.   
Logans’ worst fear.   
  
His trembling fingers nervously brushed against the door handle of his Jeep after he activated the hand brake and shut of the engine, before he finally pulled himself together and got out of the car, holding his rifle close while getting his backpack from the backseat.   
The snow made grating sounds underneath his heels, as he walked past the first row of massive pine trees and into the constant twilight of the borealian forest.   
Following his own footprints, he marched forward, his rifle in hands, his ears on constant alertness to any and every sound around him.   
In his guts there was a knot of bad feelings and it took him some time, before he realized, what it was, that concerned him so much:   
The only sounds he heard were the ones he made himself.   
  
His own pounding heart, his shallow, shaky breaths, the croaking of snow and branches on the floor.   
No birds, no foxes, no mice, nothing else.   
Just him. It felt quite eerie.   
And the fear clawed at the scientists heart and mind with icy nails. It tried to creep into cracks and splits in his perfectly calm facade and get him to run.   
Logan stopped in his tracks, looking around the frighteningly silent forest, his breath manifesting in front of his face in thick clouds, leaving his glasses steamed up, the rifle at the ready.   
The heavy, cool metal in his gloved hands a calming factor to his state of mind.   
He was not helpless, not at all.   
He knew his way around the weapon. He would not back down.

A few yards away, he could already make out the brightness of the clearing he had encountered two different abnormal creatures at, two days prior.  
He wouldn’t turn back now.   
He’d come so far already.   
If he went back home now, he would never muster the courage to come here again.   
_Don’t turn!_   
Logan slowly set one foot in front of the other, continuing following his own tracks to the opening between the tree trunks, until he finally had a good look onto the scenery.   
The blood still coloured the snow ruby red, where he had encountered the _thing,_ but there was not much else left of it.   
huh?

Even considering the predatory animals, this was unusual.  
There should at the very least be a splinter of bone, ripped skin, anything.   
But there wasn’t really.   
  
With a frown Logan walked over to the spot ( He had completely forgotten about the rifle, that now hung from his neck, unattended) and kneeled down.   
A lot of blood had sunken into the snow and small parts of muscular tissue was all that was left for him to examine.   
He took a good look at the paw prints around him.   
There were more of them, than expected. In different sizes. A pack?   
  
Probably.   
  
But what concerned him more, where the footprint-like tracks, he couldn't identify.   
The ones, that looked like a human footprint would probably look like, when the concerning human had died a horrible death of both starvation and being ripped apart by a combine harvester.   
And that thought alone was _horrifying.  
_   
With another low curse underneath his breath, the scientist took different containers out of his backpack and hastily collected some blood and tissue samples from the snow.   
He could consider himself extremely lucky, if they weren’t completely contaminated by now, but that was his own fault for waiting so long to get out here.   
Still. That he had no _body_ to work with was major setback.   
  
Logan must have been totally sunken in his thoughts and the process of collecting samples, because when he actually paid any mind to his surroundings again, he felt something watching him.   
  
It probably had been for some time now.   
  
  
The man looked up and connected eyes with _two_ wolves.   
The one on the left, he recognized immediately.   
  
It was the black creature with soft lilac eyes he had seen before.   
The sun reflected beautifully on his majestic, soft looking fur and sent little purple reflexions over his body.   
His head was tilted to the left, his ears pulled back, his eyes narrowed slightly, his nose crumbled as if he wanted to say:   
  
“The actual fuck are you doing back here?”   
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are again, with a brand new chapter.  
> I hope anyone at all cares to read about this, because otherwise all the effort I put into this would be in vain.  
> :D  
> Okay not entirely, because I still practise my english writing with this, and develop a story that I personally like, but still.
> 
> Please leave feedback and tell me what I should try and improve!  
> Love you all!!


	4. A good day for more players

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The teams gain numbers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome to another chapter gentlemen, gentleladies and gentlepeople of this wonderful place called earth.  
> Its been a hot second, huh?
> 
> I have not abandoned this, but I am totally freaking about good omens atm.  
> Have you guys already seen it?? If not, then I strongly suggest it!
> 
> And Also, I still have a daughter and a job and some social liabilities, I have to tend to every now and then.  
> Even though I would prefer to lock myself up at home and never leave my couch again.  
> I'tll soon be autumn folks! My favorite season!  
> Maybe then I will have more excuses to stay at home... We'll see

“Next time I see this guy, I’m gonna eat his stupid face off”  
Virgil was pacing around the living room again, every now and then turning to glare at Patton, who was leaning against the kitchen tray.   
“Running around with a fucking Marlin*. As if that would help him against _them_ ! I wouldn’t even need to eat him, because they would take on that task all by themselves!”   
(* Not the fish. Marlin is a certain brand of guns and rifles. Here the rifle in question would be a Marlin Model 1895 Guide gun, which is frequently used for hunting in North Amerika. But especially in Canada and Alaska. )  
  
Patton had long learned not to interrupt his roommate in his rants and choose to make cocoa instead.   
The milk already started boiling, when the younger finally let himself fall down onto the couch with a resigned moan.  
  
“You calmed down a bit, my little ball of darkness?”   
The elder asked, gently shoving Virgil's legs aside to sit down next to him, handing him his still hot beverage.  
  
“I know it's frustrating, but we have to find a way to deal with him, without getting him into trouble. Maybe we should.. you know.. fill him in?”   
The darker man shot his cousin another glare.  
  
“Yes of course, because that would go _so_ well. As if he would just believe us. And even if he would, he would just try to examine us or something. He tried to _shoot_ you! Patton we can’t fill anyone in! It’s not _safe_ !”   
“I scared him. We could use some help. And he is a good-”   
“If you are going to say ‘he is a good man, I can feel it’, I am going to cry. Pat you can’t base everything on your feelings! Empath or not! The world doesn’t work like that!”   
  
Before Patton could answer to that, the door slammed open with a loud crashing sound and a new person entered the room, covered in snow, a sandwich in one and a thermos mug in the other hand, a broad grin in his face.  
  
“Babes! Whats up?! I am back! You missed me?”   
He sauntered into the room, leaving puddles of melting snow left and right, while undressing.  
  
“Remy… Good timing.”, Virgil growled, pointing at Patton. “Tell him we can’t tell anyone.”   
“Tell what?”  
  
The newcomer shot both of them a curious look over his dark sunglasses, before lazily throwing his coat over the sofa handle.  
  
“Everything. Tell him, we can’t fill anyone in.”   
Remy stopped right behind the couch, water still dripping from his hair, carefully examining the others.  
  
All extravagant behaviour he had expressed shortly before, suddenly vanished and he even put the mug aside and shoved his dark glasses up into his hair to reveal his dark green eyes.   
“We have quite a situation here, haven’t we?”, he replied slowly, softly. “What's going on?”   
  
  
  


  
Logan didn’t hear the doorbell ring.   
He had barricaded himself inside his lab and hadn’t left it since he had come back from the forest around noon.   
The rifle, now one shot lighter, laid next to him on the dissection table, as if he was half expecting some wolf to come crashing into his basement and feasting on him or worse his samples and equipment.   
(Some people might think it funny, that Dr. Logan Berry put more value to his lab tools, than to his life, but he himself didn’t even question the order of his priorities for one hot second.)   
  
He had purified the tissue samples as good as possible and had tried running part of them through the mass spectrometer to compare what he found with other samples, he had seen before, as well as the library of samples available from his university, but all, that he could make out of it was, that is was organic, probably ape related and mammal.   
  
He had written some emails to an old university acquaintance from Exeter with copies of the overall molecular structure that he had somehow puzzled together and had done his best not to spare a single thought about the way the big grey wolf next to the smaller black one had _grinned_ at him earlier with his light blue eyes.   
And how the sun had reflected on the black canines fur and in his eyes, like sparkling velvet light, like stars in the night sky.   
Not the night sky in London or Exeter or back in Minnesota.  
No.  
The creatures fur sparkled like stars in the siberian sky.  
  
And how the two of them had howled and had scared the unholy shit out of him, by cornering the scientist between them and a thicket of bramble thorns.   
_no,_ Logan thought, _no, I will not think about that right now._   
  
Unbeknownst from Logan the doorbell rang again, and then again a little longer this time, and then a final third time, before someone, with a huff, took out their pick lock set and opened the front door with ease.   
Logan had installed a 5 pin security lock, or rather had someone install it for him, when he moved in here, but the unknown intruder had needed less than half a minute to crack it open, without even damaging it and now pulled the door close behind them.  
  
A small, fond smile hushed over the persons face as they took in the used dishes and slightly chaotic array of different books, that were sprawled out _everywhere_ , before they laid down their backpack on the couch and crossed the distance over to the kitchen to set up a kettle for tea without taking their shoes of.   
Logan would probably kill them later, but that was okay, they were used to it.   
  
While the water was boiling the intruder walked around the room to stare at every little item on the shelves and in the cupboards.   
They stopped, when they saw their reflexion in the shining metallic grey of a picture frame, Logan had put on a conveniently low shelf.   
Messy brown hair framed a perfectly defined male face and strong brown eyes, that held a very special shade of reddish chestnut in them.   
The man, because the intruder was a man and identified as such, grinned at his own reflexion, before fixing his hair and nodding approvingly.   
Then he took in the picture in the frame itself.   
  
Three boys playing together in the backyard of a small house in some suburban place in Minnesota.   
He smiled wearily and brushed his fingers over it, then quickly set it back to get the kettle that had finished boiling.   
He prepared two cups of herbal tea, before settling down on the couch, swung his feet onto the tea table still with his shoes on and took up one of the books Logan had left lying around.   
“The Cambridge Photographic Star Atlas”   
How very Logan.   
While he lazily skipped through pages and sipped on his tea, he could hear Logan approach the stairs and the door to the basement below him and started grinning in excited anticipation.   
Oh he was really looking forward to his best friends look, when he found him sitting here, in Siberia, on his couch, drinking his tea and reading his books, like an aristocrat!   
  
  
  
  
Logan was tired. He was frustrated and partly angry at himself, and also a little bit frightened about what he had found out. Or rather: The lack of things he had found out.   
His bones and muscles were still trembling from the shock of this morning, the adrenaline pulsing through his veins, when he had pointed the rifle at the larger wolf to shoot him…  
  
The fear in the beast’s eyes, the giant leap it had made to get out of the bullet’s trajectory.   
All in all: Logan was under pressure and highly stressed.  
  
So, when he opened the door to his living room and found a person sitting on his couch, a cup of tea in one, one of his most treasured books in the other hand, he didn’t even need to think.   
He had his gun up and in position immediately.   
  
“Whoa!” The man jumped up, spilled his tea across the carpet, when he let go of his mug and lifted both of his, now free hands high up in the air.   
Probably higher than technically necessary.  
  
“Whoa there Logan! You want to shoot your oldest, bestest friend in the world? Your only hope of ever being an appreciated person?! I am shocked!” The man grinned, when Logan put his rifle down, a baffled look on his face. “And also maybe a bit hurt.”

“Roman? What are you doing here? You’re supposed to work on your dissertation..”  
“Finished early. You may call me _Doctor_ Prince now.”   
“I may, but I will not. What are you doing here?”   
“Why visiting my bestest of friends, of course!”  
  
Logan put his rifle down on a conveniently located dresser and pinched the back of his nose with two fingers in a vast attempt to calm his still shock-racing heart and to try and _not_ smack Romans face with his fist instead.  
His uninvited guest had picked up the mug from the froor and frowned at the wet stain in the textile, then shrugged and went on ignoring it.  
  
“In Siberia. You are visiting me in Siberia..”   
“Obviously, I am _shocked_ you even have to ask! I would travel the whole world to help out a friend in need!”  
  
Logan choked back his comment about how his friend had done exactly that, and took a seat next to the man on the couch instead, avoiding the pattern of tea-drops on the cushions and eying Romans shoes on the table with an expression of deep disgust.  
  
“Okay but seriously. Joan showed me your email a few days ago. The one where you asked about, and I quote: “Huge slimy, furless canines in Siberia” I was worried. Thought I’d check on you.”  
  
Roman poked Logans shoulder with his outstretched hand and grinned, and as much as the biochemist _wanted_ to snap at his friend, tell him that he was being ridiculous, that he, Logan, was just fine, he was too glad to see a well meaning face, that had nothing to hide.  
  
He was too glad to see Roman.   
So he sighed, smiled ever so slightly and started explaining.   
  



End file.
